3 h. ago England set Australia 352 to win Champions Trophy opener after Duckett hits 165 – live

Over-by-over updates from Group B game (9am GMT)Get in touch with Tanya here | Sign up to the SpinOH MY GOOD GOLLY WHAT A CATCH! Alex Carey has pulled off a blinder to get rid of Phil Salt!1st over: England 12-0 (Salt 10, Duckett 0) Yep the wicket and outfield look like the sort a batter would drool over. England get twelve off the first over as Salt bunts down the ground for four and then flicks off his pads in real style for SIX! Flamboyant from the opener. Continue reading...

Events

24 h. ago Champions Trophy make or break for Buttler as England look to stop slide

After defeat in India, England start tournament against Australia, who are without their feared fast-bowling trioIn contrast to the drawn-out 50-over World Cup and its T20 equivalent, the Champions Trophy is quite a cutthroat affair, with one slip-up in the group stage manageable but two likely terminal. Jos Buttler called it a brutal format before England’s opener against Australia in Lahore on Saturday, while his opposite number, Steve Smith, spoke of needing a “quarter-final” mentality.As unforgiving as it is, there is a fair bit riding on this Champions Trophy for Buttler, a captain who lifted the T20 World Cup in 2022 straight after replacing Eoin Morgan but has struggled to live up to it since. Series results have nose-dived, both world titles were surrendered meekly, and the messaging has often been confusing. Matthew Mott paid the price as head coach last year but not every shortcoming was his. Continue reading...

Politics

26 h. ago Unfamiliar faces: who has a chance to shine for Australia at Champions Trophy? | Martin Pegan

Six players with minimal international experience are at the tournament in Pakistan and can expect to play a role Fewer than three months have passed since Australia’s Test team was seen to be in crisis as an ageing side that had shoehorned in a first debutant in almost two years was dismantled by India in Perth. A dramatic turnaround for a 3-1 series victory, followed by a clean sweep in Sri Lanka, went a long way to justifying selectors’ steadfast faith in the proven performers. Presenting baggy greens to five debutants across seven matches was an added bonus while suggesting the selectors might have had a much grander plan in mind all along.Planning around Australia’s white-ball sides has been much more haphazard. Opportunities have been handed out to emerging talents and second-stringers while frontliners have been on personal or parental leave, injured, or simply rested with eyes on bigger, more lucrative prizes. In the past 18 months alone, Australia blooded enough ODI players...

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28 h. ago Jos Buttler determined to rediscover form with bat in Champions Trophy

In 33 ODIs since being appointed permanent white-ball skipper in June 2022, Buttler averages 33.13.

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29 h. ago Champions Trophy 2025: Jos Buttler backs Jamie Smith to thrive at three against Australia

The wicketkeeper-batter has been promoted to back up openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett

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30 h. ago Nothing will faze him – Jos Buttler backs Jamie Smith to thrive at three

The wicketkeeper-batter has been promoted to back up openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett in the Champions Trophy.

Politics

31 h. ago 5 key talking points as England prepare to face Australia in Champions Trophy

Brendon McCullum’s reign as England’s white-ball coach got off to an inauspicious start with T20 and ODI series defeats in India.

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41 h. ago Champions Trophy 2025: Australia’s second tier up against it in absence of bowling big three | Geoff Lemon

Their attack has a distinctly Sheffield Shield flavour to it but the main thing in the two-times winners’ favour is the relative weakness of their groupFor a long time, a strange situation continued in Australian cricket. Through a one-day World Cup in 2023, through a T20 World Cup in 2024, through a Test summer that sat between them, and through the lead-ups and warm-ups before all of the above, the same three fast bowlers showed up almost all of the time. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Cummins, in aeternum.Things don’t work that way. Fast bowling is a horrifically taxing art, and the mad operators who pursue it across any level of the game share a gruesome delight in cataloguing their lifetime’s injuries, discarding sneakers and peeling back socks and rolling up trouser legs to show you toes bent sideways or lurid half-moons of scars around ankles or knees. At the top level, fitness and availability are sporadic, and that’s before you come to the changes driven by each fo...

Politics

44 h. ago Jamie Smith to bat at three in England's Champions Trophy opener against Australia

Wicket-keeper to come in ahead of Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jos Buttler

Politics

48 h. ago Jamie Smith at No 3 for England’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia

Joe Root moves down to No 4 in batter-heavy lineupSmith has batted first-drop just once in his List A careerIt was as if they could not wait to share the news, England naming their XI for Saturday’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia well in advance of the toss and springing a surprise too. Jamie Smith is back from a calf injury and will keep wicket but, more eye-catchingly, he will bat at No 3.The team emerged as Jos Buttler’s side trained under lights at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday evening and, on the eve of a major tournament, represents something curve-ball. Talented but inexperienced, Smith has batted first-drop just once in his List A career at Surrey, while Joe Root, England’s record centurion in ODI cricket, has moved down a spot. Continue reading...

Politics

49 h. ago Jamie Smith bumped up the order to three for England’s Champions Trophy opener

The 24-year-old missed England’s last two T20s against India and the three-match ODI series owing to a left calf injury.

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56 h. ago Travis Head says ‘I’m going to have my work cut out’ ahead of England clash

The opener is not under-estimating Australia’s first opponents in the Champions Trophy.

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2 d. ago England hopeful over Champions Trophy fitness while NZ crush Pakistan in opener

Duckett, Archer and Smith all likely to be fit for AustraliaYoung and Latham hit tons in 60-run win for Black CapsEngland begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia in bustling Lahore on Saturday and, while recent results have set alarm bells ringing, there is growing optimism that a previously lengthy injury list is at least beginning to ease.So much so, in fact, that Jos Buttler, the captain, and Brendon McCullum, the head coach, may even be able to select from a fully fit squad for their Group B opener, with all 15 players taking part in their first training session at Pakistan’s National Academy on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Sport

3 d. ago Jofra Archer set to face Australia in England’s Champions Trophy opener

Archer missed the final two ODIs against India due to a cut on his right hand.

Politics

3 d. ago Darren Gough makes bold England Champions Trophy prediction despite 'disarray'

Darren Gough has backed England to reach the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy despite their recent poor form and lack of preparation

Politics

3 d. ago Champions Trophy 2025: England under pressure as Pakistan look to defend title

Competition finally returns after eight-year hiatus

Events

3 d. ago How to watch Champions Trophy 2025: TV channel and live stream for cricket today

England looking to defy poor recent form in opening match against Australia

Sport

3 d. ago The tournament that refuses to die: Champions Trophy back for more

Favourites India come into tournament on sour note after refusal to play in Pakistan gives superpower tactical edgeAs the ICC Champions Trophy resurfaces in Pakistan this week, nearly eight years since the last one, folks will be forgiven for a few double takes, for feeling a bit like Ian Wright reuniting with his old teacher in that lovely viral clip, jaw dropped to the floor and gasping: “You’re alive! Someone said you were dead!”Although did anyone seriously think the Champions Trophy was toast? They say cockroaches and microbes would survive a nuclear apocalypse but there is every chance international cricket’s 50‑over tournoi would also spring up in the wasteland, glowing with radiation but still ready to stick its presumably mutated winners in those Miami Vice-style white blazers and deliver that sweet, sweet broadcast money. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago ‘His form has faded’ – Nasser Hussain questions England captain Jos Buttler’s struggles

England’s 3-0 ODI series defeat to India has raised concerns over Jos Buttler’s form and leadership, with Nasser Hussain questioning his struggles ahead of England’s Champions Trophy campaign

Politics

4 d. ago Mark Wood relishing chance to tick off ‘bucket list’ items over next 12 months

Ahead of the Ashes in Australia this winter, England have a home Test series against India while their Champions Trophy campaign starts on Saturday.

Politics